CB6 OKs Barclays Booze License, Denies Kemistry Lounge

We didn’t cover the Community Board 6 liquor license meeting yesterday in the flesh, but other outlets are reporting that the board’s committee on such matters approved the license for Barclays Center and then gave a thumbs-down to Kemistry Lounge, a nearby bar. With reference to the Barclays application, Atlantic Yards Report notes that “the applicant, Levy Premium Foodservice and Brooklyn Events Center, must set up a community liaison and also make sure the arena moves ahead with security, sanitation, transportation plans, there’s essentially no roadblock–not that it was assumed that the State Liquor Authority (SLA) would deny the application.” The application had previously been approved by Community Board 2, and no public comments were taken on the matter. Meanwhile, the hot-button issue of the night was Kemistry Lounge’s second appearance before the board requesting approval for a license that would involve constructing a proposed nightclub on Flatbush and Prospect Place. Park Slope Patch reports that the committee unanimously voted to deny the application, with two abstentions. Here is what Patch has to say about it: “Kemistry Lounge at 260 Flatbush Avenue, which is not open and still under construction, is located between Prospect Place and St Marks Avenue and plans to be a 225-person upscale lounge with bottle service at tables, a private party room with a dance floor in the basement and live music and DJs. But the aspect that disturbed the residents of Prospect Place the most was the fact that the establishment runs from Flatbush Avenue to Prospect Place and has three large plate glass windows and an exit on to the residential street. The vote on whether to recommend that the State Liquor Authority grants Kemistry Lounge a liquor license or not came at the end of a heated public comment period where about 50 Prospect Place residents, unified under the moniker Prospect Place Neighbors, voiced their belief that their residential street is not the right location for a ‘nightclub.'” Patch reports that one resident voiced objections on the grounds that it would be the biggest nightclub in central Brooklyn (capacity: 225) and only the second with bottle service. Evidently the community board committee made a motion to approve the application if the owner was willing to close down at midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends, but one of its co-owners said that would make the business unsustainable. It’s possible, of course, that the State Liquor Authority will still approve the club’s request despite the community board’s vote. Atlantic Yards Report has more quotes and video on the Kemistry discussion in a separate post.Community Board 6 Committee Supports Arena Liquor License with Stipulations [AY Report]Community Board 6 Rejects Kemistry Lounge’s Liquor License Application [Park Slope Patch]Community Board 6 Committee Disapproves Kemistry Lounge Liquor License Application [AY Report]Rendering of one of the Barclays Center’s clubs